Fukushima nuclear plant dumps 1,000 tons of polluted water into sea

The operator of the leaking Fukushima nuclear plant has dumped more than 1,000 tons of polluted water into the sea after a typhoon hit the facility.

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A man watches waves break into anti-tsunami barriers after a storm in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), operator of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said on Monday it released what was believed to be untainted rainwater around the storage tank areas into the ocean in order to avoid flooding near the tanks due to heavy rains by Typhoon Man-yi.Photo: REUTERS

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An aerial view shows residential areas flooded by the Yura river after tropical storm Man-yi.Photo: REUTERS

By AFP

11:09AM BST 17 Sep 2013

Typhoon Man-yi hit Japan on Monday, bringing with it heavy rain that caused flooding in some parts of the country, including the ancient city of Kyoto.

The rain also lashed near the broken plant run by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), swamping enclosure walls around clusters of water tanks containing toxic water that was used to cool broken reactors.

Some of the tanks were earlier found to be leaking contaminated water.

"Workers measured the radioactive levels of the water collected in the enclosure walls, pumping it back into tanks when the levels were high," said a TEPCO official.

"Once finding it was mostly rain water they released it from the enclosure, because there is a limit on how much water we can store."

The utility said about 1,130 tons of water with low levels of radiation – below the 30 becquerels of strontium per litre safety limit imposed by Japanese authorities – were released into the ground.

The company also said at one site where water was found contaminated beyond the safety limit workers could not start the water pump quick enough in the torrential rain, and toxic water had leaked from the enclosure for several minutes.

Strontium is a potentially cancer-causing substance that accumulates in bones if consumed.

Thousands of tons of water that was poured on the reactors to tame meltdowns is being stored in temporary tanks at the plant, and TEPCO has so far revealed no clear plan for it.

The problem has been worsened by leaks in some of those tanks that are believed to have seeped into groundwater and run out to sea.

Separately, around 300 tons of mildly contaminated groundwater is entering the ocean every day having passed under the reactors, TEPCO says.